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Benedict of Nursia · 516–547 · Treatise
Written around 530 CE by Benedict of Nursia for the monks of Monte Cassino, the Rule emerged from decades of Benedict's experience in monastic life and his observation of existing religious communities.…
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Cassiodorus · 548–570 · Commentary
Cassiodorus completed his massive commentary on the Psalms during his retirement at the Vivarium monastery in southern Italy, having withdrawn from decades of political service under Gothic rulers to dedicate his final…
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Cassiodorus · 570 · Commentary
The Complexiones in Epistulas Apostolorum stands as Cassiodorus's final major scholarly undertaking, completed around 570 CE during his retirement at the monastery of Vivarium in southern Italy. This commentary on the apostolic…
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Letters Selected Epistles
Gregory the Great · 590–604 · Letter
Gregory the Great's correspondence during his fourteen-year papacy (590-604) reveals a pastor-theologian managing the collapse of the Western Roman Empire while tending to the spiritual formation of clergy, monastics, and laypeople across…
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Gregory the Great · 596 · Commentary
Gregory the Great's commentary on the Song of Songs emerged from his role as Pope during a period of profound upheaval in late sixth-century Rome. Written around 596, this exposition reflects Gregory's…
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Sophronius of Jerusalem · 600–638 · Other
Andrew of Crete's Life of Saint Mary of Egypt stands as one of the most compelling hagiographical narratives in Eastern Orthodox tradition, recounting the radical transformation of a woman who moved from…
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Maximus the Confessor · 628–630 · Treatise
The Mystagogia is Maximus the Confessor's theological interpretation of the Divine Liturgy, written around 628–630 during his years as a monk before the major Christological controversies consumed his later career. Composed as…
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Bede the Venerable · 709–716 · Commentary
Bede the Venerable's commentary on the Gospel of Luke emerged from the flourishing scriptural scholarship of eighth-century Northumbria, where the monk of Jarrow had access to one of medieval Europe's finest libraries.…
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Theodore the Studite · 815–820 · Treatise
Theodore the Studite's treatise on holy icons emerged during the second wave of Byzantine iconoclasm, when Emperor Leo V renewed the imperial campaign against religious images in 815. As abbot of the…
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Walafrid Strabo · 835 · Other
Walafrid Strabo's Vita Sancti Otmari is a Latin hagiography written around 835 that chronicles the life of Saint Othmar, the first abbot of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland. Composed during…
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Vespasian Psalter Vespasian Psalter Old English Gloss
Anonymous glossator · 850 · Scripture
The Vespasian Psalter Old English Gloss ranks among the earliest substantial surviving English translations of Scripture. Its scope is the Psalms, entered between the lines of an existing Latin Psalter manuscript, so…
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Symeon the New Theologian · 1000–1020 · Treatise
The Catecheses represents the spiritual teachings of Simeon the New Theologian delivered as oral instructions to the monks of the Monastery of Saint Mamas in Constantinople during his tenure as abbot from…
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Paris Psalter Paris Psalter Old English Version
Anonymous; prose once attributed to Alfred · 1050 · Scripture
The Paris Psalter is an important Old English Psalter, so called from the manuscript in which it survives, that presents the Psalms in two forms: a prose translation of the opening portion…
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Lanfranc of Bec · 1070–1089 · Other
The Decreta pro Ordine Sancti Benedicti represents Lanfranc of Bec's comprehensive elaboration of the Rule of Saint Benedict for the reformed monasteries of Norman England. Written during his tenure as Archbishop of…
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Anselm of Canterbury · 1070–1109 · Letter
For readers interested in Anselm as monk, friend and archbishop, and in the investiture quarrel with the English kings; the free English is only a selection.
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Lanfranc of Bec · 1077 · Other
Lanfranc's Constitutiones emerged from the practical challenges of reforming English monastic life in the decades following the Norman Conquest. As Archbishop of Canterbury under William the Conqueror, Lanfranc drew upon his earlier…
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Bernard of Clairvaux · 1115–1153 · Letter
The letters of Bernard of Clairvaux represent nearly four decades of correspondence from one of the twelfth century's most influential monastic leaders. Written between 1115 and his death in 1153, these 544…
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Hugh of St. Victor · 1120–1140 · Commentary
Hugh of St. Victor's commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine emerged from the vibrant intellectual culture of the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris during the early twelfth century. As master…
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William of St. Thierry · 1120–1135 · Treatise
De contemplando Deo stands as William of St. Thierry's earliest and most foundational work on mystical theology, written during his tenure as abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Thierry near Reims.…
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Bernard of Clairvaux · 1127 · Treatise
Bernard of Clairvaux wrote this treatise on the love of God around 1127 at the request of Haimeric, the papal chancellor, who had asked for guidance on why and how God should…
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Bernard of Clairvaux · 1128–1136 · Treatise
Bernard of Clairvaux wrote this treatise between 1128 and 1136 as a theological defense of the newly formed Knights Templar, addressing criticisms that arose from their unprecedented combination of monastic vows with…
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William of St. Thierry · 1135 · Commentary
William of St. Thierry's exposition on Romans emerges from the rich theological ferment of twelfth-century monasticism, when Cistercian spirituality was reshaping Christian thought about the interior life. Writing around 1135, William brought…
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Hildegard of Bingen · 1140–1170 · Other
The Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations) is a collection of liturgical songs composed by Hildegard of Bingen over several decades in the twelfth century. As abbess…
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William of St. Thierry · 1144–1148 · Letter
William of St. Thierry wrote this letter to the Carthusian monks of Mont-Dieu around 1144–1148, during his final years as a Cistercian monk at Signy. Having devoted himself to the contemplative life…
